Going Out Again
by OnlyTheInevitable
Summary: Scully gets jealous of the female attention Mulder starts to get after he's finally able to leave the house again. Post-IWTB. MSR. Tumblr Prompt.


**_Requested by filemeunderx on Tumblr! _**

**_This may be a little OOC, but I'm admittedly not good at writing this era lol. So I hope I did okay. _**

She was beyond grateful he was finally leaving the house again. That was an unquestionable fact. No matter how hard this was for her at times, she'd rather have all the women of Virginia and Massachusetts combined oogle him than have him remain privy to only her concerned glances and the walls he'd forged into a tomb.

He'd spend so many years trapped inside that house reveling in his darkness and angst that she was certain at times that she'd actually lose him to it this time. But he survived, just like they always did, and for that she'd forever be grateful.

But god it was hard on her right now.

Aside from mentally, Mulder really hadn't let himself go like he could have beeing couped up in that house. He was muscular in a new way compared to his lean runner's phsique she'd been accustomed to during their years of partnership. He was older and more rugged, and it was sexy. Mulder was aging like a fine wine.

And every fucking woman they seemed to encounter noticed that.

The first time they went out after the case was done and his stint as a fugitive was officially over was around a month ago. After they'd come back from their destination vacation that was really just an excuse for them to have sex by the beach for says on end. He'd actually been the one to suggest it. _A date._

It was the first time it happened.

"Are you single?" She'd just been coming back from the restroom, walking up behind the thirty something year old asking him, coyly shifting her weight from leg to leg as she looked down at him. She'd just gotten close enough to hear that without any context. _Yeah he's a single man so fucking hungry he thought he needed two plates of food at this romantic restauraunt. _

She smiled when she heard Mulder immediately say no and tell the girl he was here with his wife, but it didn't mean she didn't see the way his eyes seemed to glisten from the compliment even after the woman left. Nor did she miss the way the woman looked at her with an appraisal that amassed to '_he could do better than you'._

She tried not to let it bother her. Mulder deserved to feel good about getting recognized. He was a good looking man. And she needed to stop projecting her insecurities onto her perceptions of other people. Surely the woman was just curious.

But acceptance was easier said than done, especially when it kept happening.

The second time happened at Sam's Club of all places. A teenager with a short red bob was chewing gum and unabashedly checking him out, in multiple ways. Not only that, but she was sending him bright beaming smiles and laughing as if every one of his jokes were the funniest thing she'd ever fucking heard. Again, she couldn't blame the girl. She'd been that age, and she'd been weak to the attention of older men too. But Mulder didn't need to indulge her.

Okay, he wasn't really indulging her. He was just being nice. At least that's the mantra she repeated in her head as she watched him smile back at the girl and tell her to have a good day. She was in the middle of chastising herself for overreacting as they were loading the car when he made it worse.

"The cashier reminded me a bit of you when you were younger."

The third time happened when a tall, dark-haired woman had the audacity to come up to Scully while Mulder left to go to the bathroom at a diner and ask if the "hunky guy she was with was single."

That one actually started a fight between them.

When she told her no, the woman walked away and a confused Mulder walked back over and slid in the booth across from her. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she replied, taking her agression out on her salad as if each individual piece of lettuce had asked Mulder out on a date.

"Scully," he said seriously. Sometimes it annoyed her that he knew her so well she couldn't even revel in her piss-poor attitude for a minute without being interrupted.

"What?" she snapped, instantly regretting it when he winced. It wasn't his fault he was_ hunky and attractive_.

"Did something happen while I was gone?" he asked slowly, treading cautiously.

"It's nothing," she sighed, almost as irritated at her own overreaction as she was at the fact people were acting like he was _so_ out of her league. She'd never had this before when they went out, and she didn't believe in the sexist double standard that men got better with age while women became irrelevant after twenty five. But this was bothering her.

"Please, Scully," he prompted gently. "Something's bothering you."

She rolled her eyes at how frivilous she was going to sound. "Another woman asked me if you were single," she muttered.

"Another?" he repeated quizzically.

"Yes. Another. Have you seriously not noticed?" she deadpanned.

"No, I only pay attention to one woman," he replied honestly in a flirty voice, reaching over and taking her left hand in his. She didn't say anything and his voice got more serious. "S-Scully, you can't seriously be jealous?"

She shrugged in exasperation, at herself for making this a big deal and him for not being able to read her mind and know how to make everything better even when she didn't know how to herself. "No, no. I'm not jealous," she semi-lied. "It's just...you haven't been out of the house in so long, and now-"

"I have all these other options to choose from?" he finished her sentence in near distain, as if the words burned his mouth. "Do you seriously think that I would-"

"No! Mulder," she sighed, irritated she said anything in the first place.

"Scully, I love you. I'll be at your side until I take my last breath," he reassured.

"I love you too, I'm sorry. I'm...overreacting," she replied, finally looking at him and seeing nothing but masked concern.

"Overreacting about what though, I don't understand. You could never seriously think I'd leave you," he stated earnestly.

She knew that. He never in a thousand years would. Maybe that's what had bothered her? He fell into that darkness with her at his side and she couldn't pull him out. Had she been pushing him in by her complacency and enabling?

She shook the thought from her mind as she squeezed his hand. "I know. I didn't mean to snap at you. I think it just bothers me that no one seems to recognize that we're a couple. I want everyone to know we're together, I guess."

"They probably don't understand why such a good looking girl is with such an old man," he joked.

"Liar," she laughed, letting go of his hand so she could eat her abused salad.

"It's true, they probably think you're a saint for spending your time letting patients from the geriatric ward have a night on the town," he chuckled.

"Shut up!" she laughed fully, throwing a tomato at him in protest.

It'd been a week since then, and she'd gotten better. She really had.

"_Dr. Scully, you have a visitor at the front desk." _She signed off on the document she was working on before walking to reception. She felt herself stop in her tracks as she saw not one, but _two_ of her coworkers fawning over him.

"Do you work out?" Karen from pediatrics asked, having the audacity to squeeze his arm while pressing her body, adorned in a size-too-small uniform, against him.

"Uh-" Mulder started.

"What brings you here?" Nurse Carol asked, seemingly forgetting her station was _behind_ the desk.

She felt that familiar twinge of anger mixed with jealousy stir in her chest, but it didn't have time to grow as she watched Mulder's eyes light up when he saw her. "Scully!" he beamed, swerving around the women to walk over to her and plant a firm kiss to her lips, nearly knocking her on her feet from the force, but keeping her upright with his embrace.

By the time he released her from his kiss, the women had dispursed, though she barely realized it. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a smile.

"You said it was going to be a long day for you, so I made you some lunch and dinner and brought it over," he replied, motioning towards the receptionist desk with a large insulated lunch box on it.

"Awww, Mulder, you shouldn't have," she praised, going over and grabbing it, only to realize there was a large boquet of roses next to it.

_To my one and only_

_Love, yours_

While she read the inscription she felt his arms encircle around her as he kissed her head.

"Dr. Scully, is this your husband?" the receptionist asked.

"I indeed have that honor," Mulder spoke up from behind her.

"You two make a beautiful couple," she complimented with an endeared smile.

They really did.


End file.
